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WAUWATOSA MURDER MYSTERY: Who killed Buddy Schumacher?

‘Schumacher Boy Found Slain’ in 1925

Badly decomposed body discovered You’ll never find me, but you can take him if you drag
the lake on the north side of the pier.”
Murder mystery continues
near river after seven-week search Police came to the conclusion that the note was a This summer marks the 85th anniversary of one
hoax because the wood apparently had been placed in of the most infamous crimes ever committed in
By Paul Hoffman the water just a short time before. Wauwatosa, the murder of 8-year-old Arthur
Special to Wauwatosa NOW The investigation slowed for the next two weeks or “Buddy” Schumacher Jr.
The first suspect questioned about Buddy Schu- so. Hope of finding Buddy Schumacher, dead or alive, To mark the anniversary, Wauwatosa NOW
macher’s disappearance in late July 1925 was a man waned. is publishing a three-part series on the boy’s
who once said he would get even with Art Schumach- But on Sunday, Sept. 13, everyone’s worst fears disappearance and the mystery that remains
er for something he said Art did. Police decided this were finally realized. over who killed the youth.
man, who was not identified in newspaper reports but While mushroom hunting in some woods about a The second installment of this series looks
was said to be a relative in at least one account, had mile northwest of the Village of Wauwatosa, Joseph at the search for and discovery of Buddy’s body
nothing to do with it. Vozar of Milwaukee stum- near the Menomonee River after a seven-week
At the end of July, bled upon a badly decom- nationwide search.
reports came in from posed body of a youngster
Columbus and Portage of in a sparse clump of bushes
a young couple with a beneath an arch formed by
crying boy fitting Buddy’s two oak trees leaning to-
description who was gether.
heard yelling at them that Vozar went to police to
they were not his parents tell them what he had
and pleading not to be found. Buddy’s parents
hit again. Detectives were out of town visiting
apparently never found relatives in Waukesha
the couple. County. Fredrick and Ed-
Within a little more win Armstrong, Buddy’s
than a week, 300 Mil- uncles, identified the body.
waukee County sheriff’s
deputies were on the Body found near river The discovery of Buddy’s body was big news for both the
case. The Wauwatosa Buddy’s body was found Milwaukee Journal and its rival, the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Quarry at 68th and State just a short distance north
streets was dynamited for of the Menomonee River
signs of the body. The on land owned by C.A.
Milwaukee Road issued Koepfler. This wooded area
alerts to all its rail sta- lay at the south end of the
tions asking for reports of property on what most
any boy matching Bud- likely is now Hansen Golf
dy’s description. A few Course.
reports of such boys Photos Courtesy of Brian and Keith Egloff Years later, the river was
came back, but they Buddy attended Lincoln and Washington elementary made strictly off limits by
never turned out to be schools in Wauwatosa, as his family lived in various homes Jeanette to her sons, Brian
the boy for whom all during his youth. He lived near what is now 74th and State and Gerald, who lived with
were so desperately streets when he disappeared. Art and Florence during
searching. World War II while Jean-
ette’s husband was away on military duty.
Hope fades, as time passes “When we were young boys, we knew that Moth-
By the middle of August, a nationwide appeal had er’s brother had been murdered,” Brian Egloff said.
been issued, and hope for finding the boy alive was “We were sternly warned not to worry grandmother

@
fading. and not to play by the river — which we did, and
Some thought there might be a break in the case in once got caught by the police, and Mom spanked us.” MORE ONLINE
WNT

late August. A note supposedly describing Buddy’s The area the body was found was one that had WauwatosaNOW.com/Buddy
death was found written on a piece of wood been searched at least a dozen times. And since the Read all the stories in our series, check out old newspaper
smoothed with a penknife. clump of bushes was in plain sight, and the body articles from the time and view a photo gallery of Buddy and
●

The message said: “I killed the Schumacher kid for his family.
July 29, 2010

revenge. I tied a stone around his neck and threw him Please see BUDDY, Page 13
off the government pier near the quarry out there.
NEXT WEEK: MYSTERY REMAINS
Part 3 of our special series will take a look at why no one was ever charged in Buddy’s death, even though police had a confession.
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